Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size. Microblogs allow users to exchange small elements of content, such as short sentences, individual images, or video links, to people who are subscribed to their posts or within their community. These small messages are sometimes called microposts.
In order to assist users to find microblog messages that are relevant to them, some social networking and microblogging tools support the use of hashtags and “@mentions.” Hashtags are words or phrases prefixed with the symbol “#” to indicate a topic of interest. A “mention” is a means by which a blog post references or links to a user, group or community, such as by identifying the user, group or community following the symbol “@.”
While existing microblogging tools use these special characters (e.g., “#,” “@”) to attract attention, they do not provide a way to guarantee access to the content (e.g., file) referenced in the microblog post to the users or groups or communities that are referenced in the microblog post. Currently, users wishing to share content referenced in the microblog post to particular users that do not currently have access to the content need to add these users to the groups or communities referenced in the microblog post prior to sending the microblog post. Additionally, if a user wishes to mention a person in a microblog post but that user is not yet a member of the group or community referenced in the microblog post, the user would not be able to receive the notification of the microblog post, let alone have access to the content referenced in the microblog post. As a result, there is not currently an efficient process for the user to allow users, groups or communities to have access to the content referenced in a microblog post for those users, groups or communities that do not previously have rights to access the content, despite being referenced in the microblog post.